Asperity

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Asperity \As*per"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Asperities}. [L. asperitas, fr.
     asper rough: cf. F. asp['e]rit['e].]
     1. Roughness of surface; unevenness; -- opposed to
        {smoothness}. "The asperities of dry bodies." --Boyle.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. Roughness or harshness of sound; that quality which grates
        upon the ear; raucity.
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     3. Roughness to the taste; sourness; tartness.
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     4. Moral roughness; roughness of manner; severity;
        crabbedness; harshness; -- opposed to {mildness}.
        "Asperity of character." --Landor.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It is no very cynical asperity not to confess
              obligations where no benefit has been received.
                                                    --Johnson.
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     5. Sharpness; disagreeableness; difficulty.
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              The acclivities and asperities of duty. --Barrow.
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     Syn: Acrimony; moroseness; crabbedness; harshness; sourness;
          tartness. See {Acrimony}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  asperity
       n 1: something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters"
            [syn: {grimness}, {hardship}, {rigor}, {rigour}, {severity},
             {rigorousness}]
       2: harshness of manner [syn: {sharpness}] [ant: {dullness}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  85 Moby Thesaurus words for "asperity":
     acerbity, acid, acidity, acidness, acidulousness, acridity,
     acrimony, anger, animosity, astringency, austerity, bad humor,
     bad temper, bile, biliousness, bitingness, bitter resentment,
     bitterness, bitterness of spirit, bumpiness, causticity,
     causticness, choler, choppiness, corrosiveness, cragginess,
     cuttingness, discontent, edge, gall, gnashing of teeth,
     granulation, grimness, hard feelings, hardness, hardship,
     harshness, heartburning, hispidity, ill humor, ill nature,
     ill temper, incisiveness, inclemency, inequality, irregularity,
     irritability, jaggedness, joltiness, keenness, mordacity, mordancy,
     nonuniformity, piercingness, piquancy, poignancy, pungency,
     raggedness, rancor, rankling, rigor, rough air, roughness,
     ruggedness, rugosity, scraggliness, severity, sharpness, slow burn,
     snappishness, soreness, sourness, spleen, stabbingness, stringency,
     tartness, tooth, trenchancy, turbulence, unevenness, unsmoothness,
     ununiformity, vicissitude, virulence, waspishness